Whatcom County fire officials: Hot holiday weekend was quiet

ZOE FRALEY - THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

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Despite the dry weather, local fire officials said the Fourth of July weekend was surprisingly calm.

Bellingham had a few small grass fires, said Bellingham Fire Assistant Chief Andy Day, but nothing too bad for a sunny, long weekend.

The quiet seemed to spread throughout the county.

"Generally speaking, the fire activity was very light compared to previous years," said Whatcom County Fire Inspector Bill Hewett. "We were looking at the weather conditions and keeping an eye on that, but if people are using legal fireworks in an appropriate manner, they are fairly safe to use. We found a lot less illegal fireworks than we have in the years previous."

The only real fireworks-related incident Hewett had to deal with was a fire in the 1400 block of Ten Mile Road at about 7:30 p.m. Sunday, July 5, that started when someone threw a lit firework out of a vehicle into a field. Dry conditions caused the fire to spread quickly, burning a half acre of grass and trees before firefighters could put it out.

The fact that July 4 fell on a Saturday this year seemed to minimize the number of days that people lit off fireworks.

"Fireworks complaints seemed to be less this year," Hewett said. "To be honest with you, where we normally go through the seven days of shell shock, people saved it up and packed it up into Saturday night."

The weekend was busy but not unusually so for Whatcom County Fire District No. 8, which responds to calls on Lummi Reservation. Fireworks such as missiles, bottle rockets and firecrackers that aren't allowed in the rest of the county are legal on tribal land.

District 8 Chief Dean Whitney said they had a normal six to eight calls from Friday to Sunday night. They dealt with about three grass fires that could have been caused by fireworks and also responded to a brush fire on Portage Island.

Several officials agreed that this year people seemed to be more cautious and safety minded.

"This year was a great year," Hewett said. "We like to think it was all part of our education and enforcement campaign for the last couple years, but I also don't doubt the economy had an effect."